Ultimate Balkans and Transylvania Travel Talk Tour: Dubrovnik, Day 12
Day 12: Wednesday 19th October 2022
Start: Trebinje, Herzegovina (Currency: Bosnian Convertible Mark)
Day Trip to Dubrovnik, Croatia (Currency: Euro)
Finish: Trebinje, Herzegovina (Currency: Bosnian Convertible Mark)
Temperature: 12 degrees departing Trebinje, 20-28 in Dubrovnik throughout the day.
Welcome back my literary friends!
This morning we eat breakfast at 7am before an 8am departure. Today we take a different bus and driver to Croatia, for a full day trip before returning to the Trebinje hotel for the night.
We made it to the border within half an hour and it took about 45 minutes to leave Herzegovina and enter Croatia. We were stamped at both. We did have do disembark and hand our passports over to cross each border. Many members of our group were keen to swim today so we watched the temperature on the bus with bated breath as it slowly crept up as we descended the rocky mountainside to the seaside fortress of Dubrovnik. We were blessed with the most perfect weather! Barely a cloud in sight as the crystal-clear water shimmered beneath the warm sunshine. To the delight of our group, the temperature rose to the high 20s while we walked the marble stairways. Our local guide walked us through the history of the beautiful ocean fortress and pointed out several locations from filming from Game Of Thrones, including the ‘Shame Stairs’ from Cersei’s walk of Shame. What really struck me about Dubrovnik is how clean the city is. With only 1,000 locals living within the walls of the ‘Old Town’, it has to be one of the cleanest tourist destinations I’ve ever visited.
We wandered through the old town before hiking the stairs to the fortress out the west gate. The views were absolutely stunning. A few people went in and paid the 100K to walk through and get some spectacular shots and see some behind the scenes from Game of Thrones, but I was keen to get ice cream and wander the town before our boat trip out to the islands for the afternoon.
Meeting the group back at the port, we eagerly awaited our 40Euro boat trip to the island for lunch. Per the ‘sales pitch’ we were expecting a reasonable sized boat with a bar, with ‘unlimited’ drinks of white and red wine, soft drinks and beer. The little boat that turned up had us laughing as we all clambered in, being handed little white plastic cups.
Even more hilarious were the giant 3L bottles of wine and beer being circulated amongst the group. The white wine bottle was labelled ‘Grasevino’ but looked like olive oil, so we took to calling it ‘grease wine’. The wine was definitely the worst option, with both apparently tasting a little like vinegar. The beer was good, cold and tasted fresh. We spent about 45 minutes on the boat over, singing along to a varied playlist supplied by Bojan and chatting amongst ourselves.
The island of Kolocep itself was beautiful! Clear waters and sunshine on an island of greenery smattered with white houses and little homesteads. A few people opted to swim at the Plaza Ingalo before lunch, stepping into the chilly water for a paddle before drying off and making our way to the restaurant to order our lunch. The only restaurant open on this side of the island was Callamota ‘Fast Food’. We opted for the local fresh catch of the day – Monkfish, prepared in a traditional manner. We were planning on ordering tuna but it became clear when the host offered to bring us the fish on a plate to ‘view it’ that they were struggling to sell it after catching a few fresh this morning. I understand people avoid monkfish given its oddly blubbery appearance, but we agreed to help the host out. This dish had to serve several people, so when we ordered it to share between four, it worked out very well. We were told it would take half an hour to prepare, which ended up being closer to an hour. But luckily Bojan was fantastic and helped us get the food served, eaten and paid for in a timely manner. It was absolutely delicious. Served in two ways, first a soup with barley and then the main is the boiled fish with boiled potatoes. The fish was so fresh it didn’t even taste like fish. The pieces fell off the bones in flakes. From what I recall, the bill per person with a drink came to 180 local.
The boat ride back was a little faster, lasting closer to 25 minutes which left us a little time to wander the old town one last time. We immediately made a bee-line for the ‘shame stairs’ from GOT and ordered ‘Shame’ themed cocktails from the takeaway menu. Sadly the ‘Cersi’s shame’ was unavailable, so we ordered a ‘Shame-hito’ and a ‘Walk of Shame’. They were fantastic and not too overpriced. Each came to somewhere between 7-8 euros. If you’re looking for ‘bang for your buck’ the Shame-hito was strong!
Back at the hotel we were still fairly full from our late fish lunch so we ventured out around the corner to Azzaro bar where we had some of the cheapest cocktails I’ve ever come across. Five of us had two each which came to a total of about 78 local or $60AUD/39 euro. We ran into Vlad and Bojan at the bar so they joined us for a drink, which was great fun. Vlad saw the Kiwi and I sitting beside each other (having not driven us to Dubrovnik) and immediately threw his hands up and shouted ‘ah, the newlyweds!’. Later on around the corner, Bojan kindly walked me to a little family owned takeaway for quick food, given we weren’t too hungry after our fish lunch. I picked up chicken sandwiches and pizza slices for our little group, which we took back to the hotel and ate outside in the brisk night air.
Tips: If Monkfish is available and you want to order it, allow an hour for cooking and service. They will tell you 30 minutes, but this is an underestimate if you’re the first group to order it from the menu. The group who ordered it after us had it within minutes of us, as they weren’t the first cab off the rank.
The ‘Bar Boat’ was not really worth the Euro we paid, but the time we spent on the island was. Be warned and be prepared to be open minded and find the hilarity of the situation. The water was clear, fresh and the island was stunning. Yes, we probably could have found a way to charter our own boat for cheaper, but you’re essentially paying for convenience.
Accommodation: Hotel Central Park, Trebinje Herzegovina